Not a movie, but there's a 6 part/hour series on BBC called "The Game". 70's Cold War, set in London, MI5 vs the KGB. The acting, writing, pacing, characters are all outstanding. I've only watched the first 4 hours, but it's one of the best things I've seen on TV in a long time. Brian Cox would be the only actor anyone would recongnize.
It's rare when an overwhelmingly positive rottentomatoes score lets me down on a drama, but a few recently watched examples- Monster. It's hilarious watching charlize Theron act like Michael Keaton from Beetlejuice. I don't know if it was conscious or not, but facial expressions, mannerisms, poses were all beetlejuice. Everyone seems real impressed with how different they can make a model's appearance though. Also Her, didn't do much for me, a waste of Joaquin Phoenix. And the biggest letdown, secrets & lies at 94%, never before has such a highly rated movie of this type disappointed. Almost every actor was fingernails chalkboard annoying. Master (Joaquin Is good in this one), syriana, & Munich are a few I watched lately that I really liked.
Whiplash - 9/10 Amazing movie. 2nd only to Birdman as my favorite of 2014. JK Simmons will be nominated for an Oscar.
Guardians of the Galaxy 8/10 This was worth the hype. What an enjoyable popcorn movie. Loved the humour, the characters and their camaraderie, the soundtrack, and the world itself. Story was a little simple, and the final act became cliché comic book destruction of such massive proportion that you lose sense of it i.e. Transformers, Man of Steel, Avengers, etc.
Desperate for a good movie on the Flix'. Anyone have a good suggestion? Looked pretty bare. Ended up watching 13 sins which sucked pretty hard 4/10 stars.
My favorites without any ranking: the Hunt, City of God, Oldboy, Trainspotting, Event Horizon, Virgin Suicides, There Will Be Blood, Usual Suspects, the Cable Guy, Bronson, Strange Days, Harold and Maude, Skyfall, World War Z
Dumb and dumber to 7/10 - Simply put, I thought it would suck since it's been so long and I'm at the point in my life where these types of comedies are just not that funny anymore. I was pleasantly surprised to find some great jokes in this one and the plot a lot better than the first one, which was way too much about love and not in a good way. This one is all fun and games, some of it over the top, some parts really boring, some jokes really corny and some scenes and some 'how do they come up with this ****' funny stuff. Jeff Daniels character actually showed some maturation and growth, also as an actor I think he was good. Jim Carrey's character on the other hand was still the same and actually worse since he had very little funny acts and jokes by himself. His acting overall was subpar and I don't know if it was the script or himself, but he seemed uninspired at times. Guardians of the galaxy 3/10 - The worst Marvel movie by far, some funny moments with that tree character but for the rest really corny, terrible plot, no real great scenes with special effects etc. Ouija 1/10 - Only watched it, because it had the same director as 'insidious' which was one of the few horror movies I found scary over the last 20 some years. This one was just awful, really awful. The story was bad, acting was bad, there were holes in the story, bad lighting and not worth anyone's time. Samba 9/10 - From the same director as Intouchables so you knew it was going to be good and it went even beyond my expectations. The acting, the story, the soundtrack, the emotional rollercoaster, showing both sides of the refugee / immigrant story worked terrific. Omar Sy's portrayal of a shy, simple yet smart, hard working, goofy and in a way charming man was great. Some similarities between his character in Intouchables and in other ways the exact opposite. What made this film work is three things in particular: the delivery of the lines, the script itself and the different characters portrayed. These of course all backed by Einaudi's piano pieces (again) to round out the whole thing. The script itself is just great, the jokes worked very well since they were simple, subtle and real. The ending is the only downpoint for me, since it was like 'Intouchables' a bit open. They left it up to the viewer to fill in the blanks, but gave you enough to fill it in and ended on a symbolic note. I would've liked to see it ending stretched out a bit longer, where they show other characters' as well.
Just returned from seeing The Theory of Everything. It was brilliant! I highly recommend it. I see Oscars in its future. Certainly Oscar nominations. 9/10
Thor: The Dark World Not as nearly as good as the first. Seemed like it was trying to do too much in the time frame it had and felt rushed and rather generic. The characters weren't as engaging as the first film. The story relied way too heavily on plot conveniences. And maybe just a bit too much humor that seemed forced at times. 6/10
Lucy (2014) 3.5/10 Great sound, art design, camera work, acting by the lead actress, set locations, and stunts. Horrible, atrocious, mind-numbing plot. The movie was very good for the first 15 minutes. Then, it collapsed with sheer idiocy and pretentiousness because of pseudoscience. I'm very irritated for the 90 minutes wasted. I can't believe the man who made Leon: the Professional, La Femme Nikita, and Taken made this movie. It's a horrible mix between Limitless, Transcendence, and a John Woo movie.
Taking Chance 10/10 Snow piercer 3/10 - don't get how movie execs could have possibly approved the pitch for this movie. I mean it just sounds so ridiculous when you say it out loud.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: 8/10. Solid but not spectacular. A couple more of these would be good. IMO, the special effects are spectacular. The storytelling is good enough.
Let's Be Cops - 1/10 Too ridiculous. The white cop is an annoying actor. I liked the good guy real cop. He's OK.
